In celebration of this Halloween weekend, I picked 2 very cool yet scary plants…scary to some, but very not scary and extremely cool to others…like me! Aralia spinosa, or commonly known as ‘Devil’s Walking Stick’ or ‘Hercules Club’. Gets its name from the stout, sharp spines on its leaf stalks, stems and branches. As it gets older, it loses some of the sharp spines (theory here is that those help to protect younger plants from critters).Grown single or multi-stemmed, the spines and the flat-topped layered foliage (large compound leaves) makes it look like it’s from the tropical jungle. Tiny green/white summer flowers that are pollinator magnets, followed with clusters of berries for many birds. Plant this one, with a large mulch ring, and let it do its thing. (Zone 4, sun to part shade, 15-20’ high and 10’ wide.)
Poncirus trifoliate ‘Flying Dragon’, or commonly known as Japanese Hardy Orange or Bitter Orange.Hardy to Zone 5, this large shrub looks like something from the Snow White / Wicked Witch story with its seriously spiny dark green stems (curved thorns) that twist and curl and zigzag.The leaves are three lobed (trifoliate) that come out light green, dark green in season, and yellow in fall.Flowers in the spring with fragrant white flowers that producing small yellow-orange fruit (edible – sort of lemony – very acidic and seedy) in the fall. Is that cool or what? Plant it, mulch around it, and let it do its thing!(Zone 5, full sun, 6-7’ high and wide, thorns are cool to look at but can be vicious!)